January records 8.64 lakh additions to formal work, a 3-month low: EPFO Payroll

At least 8,64,159 people joined formal work for the first time in January 2022, a three-month low indicating how the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic had softened the job creation pace, the payroll data of the Employees’ Provident Fund Organization (EPFO) showed on March 20.

The new payroll additions recorded in January is almost 1,00,000 less than the new additions in December 2021, when the pension fund had added 9,64,031 new subscribers. In November, this number was 8,88,661.

The last time new payroll additions were less than the January numbers was in October 2021, when 8,28,260 fresh people had joined the formal work for the first time, as per official data of the EPFO.

Also read: EPFO cuts interest rate to 8.1% for 2021-22, lowest in 43 years

New payroll additions were at 9,82,467 in September and 1,001,651 in August 2021. In July and June, new payroll additions were 9,92,265 and 8,89,276 respectively, EPFO data analysis showed.

Of the new payroll additions in January 2022, at least 4,82,777 were in the 18-25 age group, nearly 52,500 less month-on-month.

In December, it was 5,35,195 for the same age cohort, considered crucial in the formal labour market. Meanwhile 5,03,968 new payroll additions were reported for the same age group in November.

While the growth in new payroll additions were at a three-month low, EPFO said there is a sizable growth in net payroll additions. The retirement fund body said January 2022 saw a net addition of 15.29 lakh workers, at least 2.69 lakh more than December 2021.

But the caveat is, in the latest data, the EPFO revised the net additions of December downwards. While in February 20, it had said that December net payroll additions were 14.6 lakh, on Match 20 it said the same number for December now stands at 12.6 lakh.

The latest numbers are provisional, and may change over the next couple of months. Also, the new payroll additions were considered more reliable by experts than the net additions, which tend to fluctuate more.

Net additions are arrived by adding new addition, those who left formal work and those who came back after exiting formal work earlier.

In a separate statement, EPFO said state-wise comparison of payroll figures highlights that the establishments covered in the states of Maharashtra, Haryana, Gujarat, Tamil Nadu and Karnataka are lead states to add majority (61%) of the net payroll additions.

“Gender-wise analysis indicates that net female payroll addition during the month is approximately 3.2 lakh during the month. Share of female enrolment is approximately 21 percent of the total net subscribers’ addition during the month of January 2022,” EPFO said.

Industry-wise payroll data indicates that ‘expert services’ category constitutes 39.95 percent of total subscriber addition during the month. In addition, growing trend in net payroll additions has been noted in sectors including construction and trading (commercial establishments).